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1) A drain somewhere. Could be the ignition is faulty. Or, a dome light will drain a good battery in a week. Try removing negative lead from battery overnight and see.

2) Shorted diode in alternator. Try removing lead to alternator overnight and see.

3) Bad alternator not fully charging battery. Is "charge" or "gen" lite on while driving? Does it come on with head lights? Check voltage at battery with engine at fast idle. It should read 13.8 to 14.4 volts with headlights on.

4) "short-tripping" and/or hard-starting car. If you only drive a few blocks a day, this isn't enough to charge the battery. If your car is hard-starting (like Mine!) it can cause excess load on battery; possibly warping plates and reducing capacity. If car "slow cranks"; it's a sure sign of low battery.

5) Bad battery. If a plate is warped or battery is old and sulfated, one or more cells will go dead or reverse. Try putting a charger on battery. It should come up in a few hours. If it keeps drawing current, you have a bad cell. Replace battery.

6) Do you talk on a CB all night? (Didn't think so-!) I had a friend who did this, then kept complaining his "battery bad". Car batteries are not intened to be used for constant load, not even the 3 amps or so from a stereo or CB for 12 hours. A marine or RV battery is.

Make sure all connections clean and tight. Keep Distilled water level up in cells--so you can see it--use a Flashlight, Not a match to see!

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Q: What can cause the battery to go dead with car off?
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